Honduran Exchange Student Returns to Dixon to Visit Her Host Sister

Dixon High School language teacher Lisa McClintock welcomed her international sister to town last week. As a teenager, Lisa’s family hosted an AFS exchange student named Irma Gamez in Dixon from 1986-1987. Irma travelled from her home country of Honduras to visit Lisa in Dixon, which was the first time the two have seen each other in over a decade. The visit turned into a larger reunion when Irma and Lisa met long-time friends who have studied abroad and/or hosted exchange students with AFS in the past.

Lisa’s experience studying abroad with AFS to Quebec, Canada in 1985-1986 inspired her to become a host family. The next year, her family hosted Irma from Honduras. The two international sisters have kept in contact throughout the years. Irma attended Lisa’s college graduation in 1991 and Lisa has visited Irma in Honduras three or four times, including for Irma’s wedding. The two were elated to reconnect last week in Dixon, where Irma visited family and friends who are still in the area.

Irma learned to love Mexican food while she was living in the U.S., and she insisted on going to a Mexican restaurant in Dixon. One of the friends who met them for dinner, Lisa Jones Short (Dixon High School 1987), studied abroad with AFS to Brazil and hosted an exchange student while in high school. The group spent a lot of time catching up on one another’s lives over delicious Mexican cuisine. The two reunited host sisters were then invited to Lisa Jones Short’s parents’ winery in Dixon so that Irma could try some California wines.

A very special part of Irma’s trip took place when she visited the home of her host family and reconnected with family members and friends that she had grown so close with while living in Dixon as an exchange student. One of those friends is Kim Schroeder Evans (Dixon High School 1986), who studied abroad with AFS in Belgium.

Irma is now an architect and works with her family’s civil engineering company in Honduras. She is married and has three children.  “We are hoping to meet either at a resort in Honduras or Florida in the next year or two along with my brother’s family. We don’t want it to be 14 years till we see each other again,” said Lisa McClintock.

AFS, a worldwide nonprofit, has been leading international high school student exchange for more than 60 years. Dixon has been involved with AFS for a number of years, sent dozens students all over the world, and welcomed international high school students from countries like Austria and Japan over the years.

More than 2,500 AFS Exchange Students arrive in the U.S. each year from more than 90 countries to be welcomed into families, high schools, and local communities. Host families provide a bed and meals, share their daily lives with students, and help guide and support students as they would their own children. Families and their hosted students receive ongoing support from AFS Staff and experienced, local volunteers, and the opportunity to connect with an outstanding young person eager to learn about America.

Join our global community. Find out how to host a student, study abroad, or volunteer with AFS. Call 646-381-3333 or visit www.afsusa.org.